


Central City's Center

by Infinitelove



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 07:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16990356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinitelove/pseuds/Infinitelove
Summary: Sara was send home by the army after she got injured. After spending a good part of her life being a soldier, she had trouble facing the real world again. She was lost and haunted by demons. Then she met Ava and realized that maybe, she could find a way to be happy again.





	Central City's Center

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is the second time I write something and it’s a multi-chapters AU so I don’t know what I’m getting myself into or if it’s gonna be good or not but I did my best. Also English is not my first language so I apologies in advance for any mistakes I made. I hope you enjoy it!

Sara never thought that walking would become a difficult thing to do. She knows how to walk since she was a baby like everybody else, yet now she is grown adult and walking is a daily struggle. Every steps she takes make her wince and the cold of January does nothing to help. It was not very late, 5p.m., so the street was not very crowded since Central City is not that big. And she was thankful for that because she didn’t know how she could handle avoiding people in the street and concentrate on walking at the same time. She was used to the pain by now but today her left leg was throbbing more than usual.

As soon as she saw the apartment she let out a sight, the ten minutes walk from her work had felt very long. When she opened the door, she was welcome with a warm “What the fuck?! How that didn’t kill him!”.  
Sara saw her roommate seated in front of the coach with her back against it and a controller in her hand with earphone on. She then decided to have a little fun. She put her bag on the floor and approached her best friend quietly from behind. When she reached the coach she climb over it, her leg protesting a little but she ignored it. She put her two hands on her friends shoulders and said loudly “Hello to you too Z!”. 

Zari, taken by surprise, jump on her feet in one movement, threw the controller she was holding in the air, the earphone falling on the ground in the process. “WHAT THE HELL! Sara! You little shit a told you to stop doing that” But Sara barely heard her because she was laughing too hard, lay down on the coach, after seeing her best friend jumping higher than she ever saw her to.  
“Oh my god! This was so good” she said as she wiped the tears in the corner of her eyes.  
“I hate you so much” was the replied she got “and now I lost the game because of you” Zari added when she turned back to the screen.  
“Oh come on you can admit it was funny” the only replied she got was Zari giving her a deathly glare. 

Sara readjust herself on the coach so she was sitting with her legs on the footrest, wincing as she did so and Zari noticed “Is your leg bothering you?”. 

At first Sara had been uncomfortable when her friends would mention her injury, she hated feeling inferior to people and letting others take care of her. But after she came to live with Zari 6 months ago, she quickly realized that they were just trying to help her and letting them help was a lot easier than arguing or suffering alone. So every day she take it upon herself to be open and honest about what she is feeling concerning her injury. Zari turned out to be very helpful with it and learned how to deal with Sara’s mood.

“Yeah, this morning it was fine but I don’t know, it started to hurt a little while before I left work, I must have been standing longer than I should have”.

Zari gave her an understanding look “Do you want to cancel the game night?”. Right the game night, Sara had been so focus on her injury and the pain today that she forgot it was Thursday, which mean game night with all her friends and today it was at their place. 

“No don’t worry I’ll be fine, I’m just gonna take some pills and rest a little and it’ll be okay” she tried to smile to reassure her friend but the look of concern Zari was giving her didn’t go away “Okay then you call me if you need anything”. 

Sara was walking toward her room when she replied “I will, thank you Z”.

Zari watched Sara leave the living room, concern growing for her best friend. She had known Sara since they were little, the two of them and Ray were inseparable, and become best friends very quickly. She witnessed all the shits that happened in Sara’s life, every times her heart had been broken, but she never saw her liked that. When her sister Laurel died, she was only 21 and it devastated her. Sara was young and a rebel. But Laurel was her big sister, she was always there for her, always had her back so when she was no longer here, Sara was lost. She didn’t know what to do, the only thing she knew was the pain, the whole in her heart and that she wanted to escape this pain as much as she could. That’s why she joined the army. She always knew how to fight, doing martial arts since she was a little kid, it often help her evacuate the anger she felt inside her so it seems like the right choice. Plus, it allows her to get away from here, from the memories and the pain they brought with them. 

But now, 6 years later, after Sara was send back home by the army because she got injured, Zari have never seen her so broken, so lost, like a ghost of the person she used to be. Like she no longer have propose, no more escape and she didn’t know where to go. And Zari didn’t know what to do.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

Sara was in her room after she took some pills for the pain. She hated that she needed to take them but the pain become unbearable every time she moved her leg now, and there was no way she would be able to get trough game night with her friends without it. As much as she love her friends she knows that they can be a bit to much to be around sometime and tonight she was too tired to deal with it. Especially since she came back it feel like there was always a lingering tension between her and the rest of the group.  
Well, she guessed it was normal, she only saw Zari and Ray a couple of time this past 6 years. Hence she didn’t have a lot of time to connect with the latest additions to the group: Nate Heywood, Amaya Jiwe and Nora Darhk. Nate become friend with Ray 5 years ago and quickly became a part of the group and when he started dated Amaya 3 years ago she joined the group as well. Nora and Ray have been together for 4 years and even if Nora was not as present as the other she was a part the clan too.  
But during this last 6 months she had a lot more time to see them and became really close, it feel like she had a family now more than she had in a long time.

She tried to get better with the help of her friends, and she did. She was doing better but she still wasn’t doing great. After she got injured 10 months ago it felt like she had no purpose anymore. The army help her dealing with her sister death, she got away from the place that brought memories of her, brought pain. It help her focus on something else, fighting came naturally to her and following orders was better to take responsibility, it was easier than being responsible for the death that happened around her. So when she could no longer be in the army, when all of that was taken away from her, she didn’t know what was left. She didn’t know how to deal with the pain she felt anymore. Her time with the army left her with scars and demons haunting her and a leg that didn’t function properly. The 4 months of physical therapy taught her how to walk again and deal with the pain but it did nothing to chase away her demons. 

And now all she had left was an injured leg, a heart more broken than ever and nightmares that kept her from sleeping at night. She felt like she didn’t belong anywhere and so damaged she was convinced that she will never be happy, not again, not without her sister. But at least she tried because of her friends, because they would never give up on her.

She went to bed knowing the pain killers will make her groggy and she needed rest before facing the chaos of game night. 

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

Everybody was in the living room while Sara was still sleeping. Nate and Amaya were on the couch, Ray and Nora were each sitting on a chair at opposite side of the coffee table and Zari was sitting on a cushion, her back against the TV stand. They were eating some snacks waiting for Sara to wake up. 

“We need to do something she is not doing better, I’ve never seen her like that” Zari whisperer.

“But what can we do?” Nora asked, then Ray added “Yeah she keep rejecting everything we propose to her”.

“Maybe try meditation” Nate proposed “I heard it helps to communicate with your inner you. Maybe that’s what she need to do to find herself again”.

Zari scoffed “Okay that’s it! THAT is the stupidest thing you ever said. Do you really see Sara doing meditation?”. 

“Well maybe not no. But at least I’m giving ideas, I don’t see you proposing anything!” Nate replied a little to loudly.

It was Nora who tried to calm them down, “Guys keep it down, I don’t want Sara to hear what we are talking about okay, I value my life”.

“I have an idea. Yesterday, I was driving by this Center for ex-military. I had a little time so I stopped by to see what it was about. From what I’ve gathered it’s a center that helps former soldier who were injured to find their place in the society again. They have meetings and stuff like that, maybe she can go to one and see what it’s like.”

“See Nate!” Zari exclaimed “THAT is a good idea! Thank you Amaya.”

Nate surrendered, “Okay I get it. But how do we tell Sara? I don’t think she will be thrilled that we kind of organize a plot behind her back”.

“Yes, we should decide the best person to tell her, but who will want to do it?” says Ray trying to think of the best person who could do it, but when he realized that no one was saying anything, he lifts his head up to find all of his friends looking at him expectantly. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”.

Nora took pity on him, “Honey, I think what your friends are trying to tell you is that you are the most qualified person to tell her”.

“What? Me? I’m not sure she will listen to me, Zari should do it sh-”, but Zari interrupted him “Ray-Ray listen to me. You are her best friend and you are way more sensitive than me for this kind of thing you’ll find a way to convince her to go. Plus if she gets mad there is no way she’ll be able to hurt you if you give her your puppy dog eyes.”  
Ray considered it, it’s true that Sara trusted him and out of all her friends he was the most optimistic and maybe that's what she needed right now. They seem to all agreed that he was the best person to speak about it to Sara, so he accepts. Feeling like they finally have a solid idea that could help Sara they started talking about something else and waiting for Sara to wake up. 

 

Half an hour later it was time for Sara to wake up. She heard laughter coming from the living room and recognized the voices of her friends. She turn in her bed to see what time he was and deduced that she slept for almost 2 hours. She sights a little and moved herself in a siting position with her legs dangling from the bed. Her left leg protested a little at the movement but it was less painful than earlier. So she pushed herself from the bed and went to see her friends.

When they saw her emerged from her room they all came to greet her. She happily accept their warm hug, she was glad they were here. She then went to seat beside Amaya on the couch and notices that there was a sort of tenseness in the group, like they were waiting for something. They talk and catch up for a while before she decided to comment on it “Did something happened? why are you guys being so weird?”. She noticed them exchanging a few glances with each other and instantly knew that her intuition was right. 

There was a silent exchange of ‘Guess this is the way we're gonna tell her’ between them. Finally after a couple of seconds of them not saying anything it was Ray who said “Well Sara, we know that coming back here after your injury has been really difficult” he saw her tense significantly but continue nonetheless “so when we heard that there was a center helping former soldier to reintegrate society after being severely injured, we hum- we thought that maybe it would be a good idea for you to go check it out?”

Sara didn’t know what to say, a small part of her was touched that her friend wanted to help her but the bigger part of her was angry a them for plotting about her life behind her back and for thinking that she needed help to ‘reintegrate society’. She tried to take a few calming breaths before speaking “You, all of you, decided behind my back to have a little chat about MY life and what I should do?!” 

Amaya was the only one brave enough to speak up “We are just trying to help here Sara. We know that your hurting but we also know that we can’t understand what you’re going trough unlike the people in that center. I really think you should go, I’m sure they can help you”.

“Yeah, I mean what’s the worst that could happened?” Zari added “You don’t like it and decides to never go again? Or you see that it could help you dealing with your injury and the trauma that you’ve been through”. When she sees Sara open her mouth to say something she continues “Because we all know that the army is not summer camp Sara. And we completely understand if you don’t want to talk about your time there, especially to us, but the people in that center get it, they went trough it too. Even if you don’t talk about it, just hearing other people share your pain will help you.”

“They are right Sara, it could be good for you to go. And if you need people to take you there, we are all more than happy to do it” said Ray.

She scan the faces of her friends and sees that they all had hopeful looks. She knew that they were trying to help and they were probably right, talking and listening to people who understood what she has been trough, what she is going through could benefit her. But she wasn’t sure she was ready for this kind of thing and she definitely wasn’t the kind of person that would be happy sharing her feeling. And sure she wasn’t doing great but she was okay with how things were currently and she was doing just fine on her own. She didn’t need some people at a stupid center telling her what to do.

“I appreciate your concern but it’s not necessary, I’m doing fine, I don’t need to go to a former soldier center to help me with anything.” she splits the words out of her mouth. When she saw her friends were not convince at all she added “I promise I will consider it okay. But I would appreciate if we drop the subject now and talk about something else”.

It was Nate who spoke first “Your right Sara, your are the one to decides what you want to do with your life and we are sorry we talk about it behind your back” after seeing everybody nodded he moved on “Anyway, I thought this was game night?! Who wants to play Monopoly?”. There were a few groans but Zari was quick to agreed. 

The rest of the night was uneventful, Sara could see they were trying to avoid mentioning anything that could upset her. But she was glad they didn’t say anything about their conversation again and she was happy to be able to enjoy the rest of the night playing and laughing with her friends. 

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

Sara was running, she couldn't hear anything, all that she heard was chaos, complete chaos. Her ears were buzzing with the sounds of explosions around her. She was running as fast as she could, trying to find cover. She wasn’t sure how it happened, were her squad was.  
The only thing she was aware of was blood, blood everywhere. On her, on the walls, around the dead body on the floor. She could smell blood, she could feel the taste of it on her tongue. She could fill it on her skin mixing with sweat.

When she finally reach an abandoned house, her heart was beating fast and she was breathing heavily. She wanted to see what was going on, so she look outside the window, but as soon as she did it, she heard bullets missing her head by only a few inches, the sound of it ringing in her right ear.  
Her breathing didn’t slow down, it couldn’t. The grass, the dust, the smell of chemical products and blood lingering in the air were intoxicating. She cough multiples times, trying to clear her throat but it did nothing to help. 

Her hands were holding her gun tightly. Her back against the wall. 

She vaguely heard someone screaming outside the house, the next thing she saw was a little ball landing a few feet away from her. 

By the time she realized what it was she tried to run.

Run in the opposite direction. 

As fast as she could. 

But it was to late. 

 

Sara woke up gasping for air, she was breathing heavily, her throat felt tight and she felt a force squeezing her lungs tightly. There was sweat clinging to her body. Remembering her dream, she could taste the blood and grass on her tongue and smell the scent of explosions. Her leg was throbbing so hard she almost cry out when she reached for it.  
She try to control her breathing before looking at the time. It was 3a.m.  
The nightmares were a common occurrence for her so she wasn’t surprised, she was even glad that she got to sleep that much counting the nap she had. 

She try to massage her leg but it was to painful. She instead decided to get up and go take a shower, she just wanted to wash away the dream. 

Feeling the hot water almost burning her skin was the most relieving thing she could do even if it barely made a difference. She would take it. She saw flashes of her dream, the sound of chaos never living her. Her leg hurting so much that she really considered cutting it out herself. 

She then realized that maybe her friends were right. Maybe going to the center was not a bad idea after all.


End file.
